Opting Out Specific Custom Object Records But Not at the Lead Level

[nhabischWings]

Hello,

Looking for any thoughts on the following scenario:

We (unfortunately) allow for multiple users to register under the same email address. This creates an issue when it comes to opting out of communications. Since Unsubscribe is at the Lead-level and Custom Object data can really only be altered by the API - I was curious on this process for "opting out" individual records:

1. Create an "Unsubscribed" field within our Object
2. Personalize every email so we note whom it went to specifically at record level
3. If the user opts-out, pull down that data if possible
4. Set the "Unsubscribed" object field to TRUE
5. Reset the Lead-level Unsubscribed field to FALSE

I understand this is NOT the optimal solution - just was trying to think ahead in case it becomes required of our organization. Ideally we'd only allow one user per email - but I don't think high-ups would like us forcing 200k legacy users to change their email(s). 🙂

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

Off the top of my head, I think your approach sounds good, Since you are managing the email addresses of people at the CO level, it makes sense to manage their subscription preference at the same level, I.e. at the custom object level too, and not at the person level. However, you'd need to ensure you close the gap and decide on how the CO record level unsubscribe field would get updated, in case the Unsubscribed field on the person object is set to True. How do you process/send communication to people at the custom object record level even though the campaign operates at the lead/person level would help you decide on the correct approach as well. Additionally, just for your reference, custom object records can also be upserted by list imports.

[nhabischWings]

Hello,

Thanks! In our case we have a daily update that data basically pulls from our core platform into Marketo via the API. So, in essence what would occur is that if someone opted out on a global level, we'd pull that down and (ideally) be able to note whom it was and then data run would both set their CO record to TRUE and reset their Lead table record to FALSE. In an ideal world of course!

True about the list imports, I didn't think about that. Though I think in our case ideally if we could run all aspects of the updates during our daily API run that would be ideal.